August 23

Key Largo looking north, ca. 1940. Jewfish Creek is to the upper left.

1851 – After a “stormy gale” passed through the area, the captain and crew of the barque Mary Ellen, sailing from Trinidad de Cuba with sugar and molasses, were rescued in the Gulf and brought to Key West after their vessel was swamped and swallowed by the sea. It sank so quickly, the men saved nothing but the clothes they were wearing.

1904 – Robert Gabriel was elected president of the Roosevelt and Fairbanks Republican Club in Key West.

1933 – Emergency Relief Council workers’ pay was increased from 18 cents an hour to a new rate of 30 cents per hour.

1938 – Sammy Manning, pianist and composer, wrote a symphonic march titled “Key West.”

1940 – Mabel McKinney sold her Key Largo property fronting the highway and known as “Mabel’s Place” for $1500 to A.K. Gray of Miami.

1955 – Key West City Manager Victor Lang proposed sand-collecting groins be built into the water to aid the new beach project along South Roosevelt Boulevard. “Once we have located the proper positions for these groins, we hope to be able to turn the sand job over to nature,” he said.

1967 – Key West Towers, the island’s largest apartment complex, was completed after three years of planning and 18 months of construction. The three-building complex was on South Roosevelt Boulevard, across from Smathers Beach.

1970 – Monroe County commissioners took their first look at the new County Master Plan. The comprehensive plan, a 201-page document prepared by Milo Smith and Associates of Tampa, was to be used by the commission as a steering device for at least the next six years.

Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.

Image: Key Largo looking north, ca. 1940. Jewfish Creek is to the upper left. Photo by Liddle & Kohn of Miami. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.